


Sakura Showers

by Kalira



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Happy, Hatake Kakashi is a Good Teacher, Holding Hands, Kakashi Lounge Event, Mentor/Protégé, Rain, Rain prompt, Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), Spring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23608540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira
Summary: Sakura is a big girl, and she knows that missing the sakura season is not a big deal, but it still makes her a little sad and wistful. Kakashi doesn't understand, but this small thing is easy enough for him to give his pup if it will make her happy.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi
Comments: 27
Kudos: 151
Collections: Dog Sensei & Sparklepuppy, The Kakashi Lounge





	Sakura Showers

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the April prompt - Rain - in [The Kakashi Lounge](https://the-kakashi-lounge-blog.tumblr.com/)! (Discord server.)
> 
> It was not my original idea for the prompt, but I couldn't resist some Dog-sensei & Sparklepuppy happy feels when they occurred to me.

Sakura sighed, looking out at the rain through the glass. It wasn’t _miserable_ , but it was . . . definitely raining. Rather a lot.

“What’s wrong, pup?” Kakashi-sensei asked, a warm hand settling on her shoulder, and Sakura jumped, looking around and up at him. His eye was shaded faintly darker, tiny wrinkles at one corner; concern tinted with curiosity.

Signs Sakura wouldn’t have been able to read, a year and a half ago.

“Nothing, sensei!” Sakura assured him, waving a hand. “Aa, I’m sorry, did I. . . Was there something I missed?”

Kakashi-sensei made a sound low in his throat. “No, you’re fine, pup.” He glanced out at the window. “This is likely to still be coming down when we head out day after tomorrow . . . are you packed for the wet?”

“Ah, yes, of course.” Sakura smiled, then looked out at the rain and sighed wistfully again. She had hoped. . . Well, they were only in Konoha for tomorrow, had returned late this evening, and it had been raining for over a week and looked fit to continue. Sakura wouldn’t have minded much, save for the slog of travelling in it, but . . . it was sakura season. It wouldn’t be by the time their mission was concluded, and they were going straight to Yuki no Kuni, where there wouldn’t be even a chance of enjoying the blossoms.

It was cliché, and she hated to _admit_ to it - bless Ino, who had loudly _dragged_ Sakura to sakura hanami for years, shouting that she didn’t care how much Sakura hated it - Sakura had always enjoyed sakura season, and walking among the falling blossoms. When they had started back home a few days ago, knowing they would be in Konoha for just one full day of rest, she had hoped to be able to do so this year as she had every year before.

“What’s bothering you, pup?” Kakashi-sensei asked, smoothing a hand over Sakura’s shoulders and bending closer.

Sakura looked up at him again. A year and a half ago he wouldn’t have known her smile wasn’t quite sincere, or perhaps would simply have let it pass if he did. “It . . . really is nothing . . . very important.” she demurred, and Kakashi-sensei wrapped his arm around her shoulders, his body warm and solid against her right side.

Sakura relaxed a little more. Sure, it was . . . a shame, she would miss seeing the blossoms, but it wasn’t the worst thing. She would get to again, and there would be more spring flowers when they were next in the village.

“It’s all right, Kakashi-sensei. I just,” Sakura hesitated, because she _hated_ to admit it, then let out a breath; it was _Kakashi-sensei_ , “I really love to walk under the sakura when they’re blooming. When they’re falling. But this rain isn’t going to let up for _days_ , so this year I won’t get to. It’s all right.” She shrugged. “It’s silly.”

“Ah. I’m sorry, pup.” Kakashi-sensei said, ruffling her hair then stroking it back. Sakura hummed, leaning into him a little more. There was a chill in the air still, even in the sprawling old, solid Hatake house - the rain was probably why - and he was warm.

He stood with her at the window for a time - Sakura could just see the faint bit of pink of a lone sakura tree just beyond the walls of the Hatake compound, and her gaze lingered on it - and then nudged her gently, stepping back. “If you’re all ready, time to head back to see your parents?” Kakashi-sensei suggested.

Sakura sighed and rubbed her face. She turned away from the window. “It’s late. I’ll go see them tomorrow, but for tonight. . .”

Sakura didn’t want to wake them, and she didn’t want to handle their questions tonight either. She was tired. It was always a bit of an adjustment coming back to Konoha from a long mission, and . . . the Hatake house was a calm place. Kakashi-sensei would ask no questions, or none that were uneasy to answer.

“Your room is there for you, pup.” Kakashi said simply, smiling slightly and then turning to walk away. Sakura smiled. “Oyasumi.” he called, raising one hand but not looking back.

Sakura laughed. “Oyasumi, sensei!”

She looked back out at that one tree just visible outside the compound, her smile tugging down a little, then shook her head. She went to bathe and then, wrapped in a thick pink sleeping yukata that had appeared in ‘her’ room here the fifth time she had stayed, found that the futon had already been rolled out for her, with the flowery summer kakebuton laid out but also an extra blanket folded by the pillow.

Sakura looked over her shoulder at the closed door to Kakashi-sensei’s bedroom and grinned, then went to tuck herself in. The house was quiet and peaceful, full of chakra-memory that held the same sparking lightning that ran through her sensei’s skinny frame.

. . .it was another reason Sakura hadn’t wanted to go home to her parents tonight. It always took a little time after a mission before she could rest in their house, with the humming sounds that never stopped, and the sounds of her parents themselves, and the sheer _vulnerability_ of being in a civilian house, even in Konoha. . .

Sakura never could sleep properly for the first few nights after coming back, couldn’t sometimes even when she wasn’t fresh off a mission. She yawned, nestling into her futon a little more.

Kakashi-sensei’s house, though . . . it was safe. Safe, quiet, and comforting. Even when Kakashi-sensei was not in it. Sakura had used the excuse of looking after the house and grounds for her sensei to stay here while he was out of the village a few times.

She snuggled a fold of the extra blanket into her arms and pressed her chin down into it as she fell asleep.

* * *

“Sakura-chan!”

Sakura woke a little slowly, turning over and finding Kakashi-sensei in her doorway. “Ohayou?” she said groggily.

“Ohayou!” Kakashi-sensei stepped inside and she sat up, yawning. “Breakfast.” He crouched by Sakura’s futon and offered her a roll. “Eat and get ready, all right?”

Sakura accepted it, blinking sleepily. “What’s going on?” She paused with the roll halfway to her mouth. “Do we need to leave early?”

“No.” Kakashi-sensei rested a hand atop her head for a moment. “I have something for you before you go to see your parents today, though.”

Sakura looked up at him, curious.

“Breakfast first.” Kakashi-sensei nodded, rising and leaving her alone once more, the bedroom door closing with a soft rustle.

Sakura ate quickly, peeking out the window to find that the rain was still pouring steadily, as she’d expected. She dressed, brushed her hair and tied her hitai-ate neatly in place, then headed out to find Kakashi-sensei.

“What is it?” Sakura asked curiously, but Kakashi only led her outside without answering, fortunately with an umbrella held over them. “Kakashi-sensei. . . What are we doing?” she wheedled as he began leading her somewhere, tagging along beside him.

“You’ll see.” Kakashi-sensei said with a mischievous look, and she pouted. Kakashi-sensei laughed at her, and she whined theatrically, but it broke into giggles when he looped an arm around her shoulders.

Sakura trotted along at his side - his lazy strides shortened just enough to let her keep up with him easily - happily enough right until they reached-

“Oh- I . . . sensei, it won’t be the same.” Sakura said softly, looking longingly at the sakura trees up the slope before them. “With the rain and the umbrella and-”

“I know.” Kakashi-sensei patted her back, then turned to face her, his back to the trees. “It won’t quite be the same, but come with me.”

Sakura sighed, but nodded, and then blinked as Kakashi-sensei folded the umbrella away and ran through a series of hand seals just as the rain began to plink down on them. “Kakashi-sensei what- Oh!”

The rain whirled around them and above them, into . . . not quite a _shield_ , nor a replacement for the now-discarded umbrella - they were still getting a little wet, though more misting traces than the rain still falling around them - but it rippled and shimmered in the air, barely visible as more than a faint waver.

“It’s not the same, but I hope you can enjoy the sakura before we leave even so?” Kakashi-sensei invited, and held out a hand. “Stay close, the jutsu doesn’t have a very broad range.”

Sakura grabbed his hand and trotted up the hill at his side as he began to walk, leaving the umbrella behind.

The rain was cold, but it only reached Sakura in tiny prickles of mist on her face and the bare parts of her arms, lighting in her hair. Kakashi-sensei’s hand was warm wrapped around her own, and he kept the other splayed over their heads, presumably holding the jutsu that swirled continuously and directed the heavier weight of the rain away from them.

They passed under the sakura trees, and . . . it was _not_ like walking beneath the blossoms on the bright, sunny spring days Sakura had enjoyed for many years before. But. . .

Sakura petals were disrupted by the rain, falling not in light billows of spring breezes, but carried by the heavy, but soft spring rain instead. The sakura glowed in the weak sunlight that shone through the clouds, which set the rain itself to tiny, sparkling glimmers.

Sakura giggled and reached up to the shower of wet blossoms caught by the rain, her fingers stretching out of the shelter of Kakashi-sensei’s jutsu, cold and wet. She thought she would have run out thoughtlessly into the rain herself if it weren’t for Kakashi-sensei’s hold on her hand.

“It’s beautiful.” Sakura said, a little surprised, and tugged Kakashi-sensei on with her as she darted into a run. He laughed, but followed easily, taking a quicker pace, and the jutsu held around them as they moved, showing the sakura still on the trees in all their beauty and letting the petals whirl past freely.

Sakura slowed and Kakashi-sensei walked with her through the trees, lingering as long as she chose, slowly looping back to where they had begun. He released her hand as they reached the bottom of the slope, and Sakura pounced on him, hugging him tight. “Thank you, Kakashi-sensei.” she said against his flak vest.

“You’re welcome, pup.” Kakashi-sensei rubbed her back, handing her the already unfurled umbrella as she stepped away again. “Maa . . . go see your parents now, all right?”

Sakura grinned brightly. “Yes! Erm. . .” She paused. “Don’t you need this?” She gestured at the umbrella with her free hand, and Kakashi-sensei waved her off, letting the jutsu collapse even as he walked away. Sakura paused, but Kakashi-sensei seemed unbothered by the rain beginning to collect in his hair, weighing the wild spikes down just a little.

He tucked his hands in his pockets, his back to her. Sakura grinned, tucking her free hand tight to her chest. It was a small, silly thing, and she knew Kakashi-sensei surely didn’t exactly care himself, but he had given her the sakura blossoms that were so important to _her_ , just because they were.

Sakura trotted home to her parents with light steps, humming happily. It wasn’t until she was closing the umbrella on the doorstep that she found the whole, wet sakura blossom stuck to the back of one hand.

Sakura hummed, carefully pulling it from her skin, and took it inside with her.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on:  
> [Dreamwidth](https://kalira.dreamwidth.org/profile)  
> [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/Kalira)  
> [Tumblr](http://kalira.tumblr.com/)  
> [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/Kalira_SM)


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